Dabo Swinney didn’t want to blame Clemson’s 46-45 loss to Duke on a controversial call. But Swinney also said a fourth-down pass interference call on Avieon Terrell late in the fourth quarter was one of the worst he’s ever seen.

Terrell was called for the penalty with 49 seconds to go as Darian Mensah’s pass fell incomplete. As Duke trailed 45-38, the Tigers could have run out the clock for the win without the penalty. Instead, Duke got the ball at the Clemson 3-yard line and, one play later, Nate Sheppard scored a TD as the Blue Devils took the lead on the ensuing two-point conversion.

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After the game, Swinney talked about the call. And to first understand his frustration, just watch the replay below.

“I don’t really know what to say about the last call,” Swinney said. “Y’all saw it. It shouldn’t come down to that, we had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but that’s one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in a game. Ever. In my entire coaching career. Ever, in a situation like that. I don’t really know what else to say.

“But I don’t want to make that a deal. Because we should have won the game. We had plenty of opportunities to win the game but you fight your butt off and you scratch and you claw and you get into a situation like that and you have a call like that. Man, I mean, that’s just more salt in the wound, you know?”

It sure looks like Terrell doesn’t instigate the contact with Que’Sean Brown on the play and Brown pushes Terrell over. That apparently was enough for officials to deem that Terrell was impending Brown. At least that’s the most charitable interpretation of the call. And it’s probably a stretch.

The loss dropped Clemson to 3-5 as the Tigers’ nightmarish 2025 continues. Duke scored 21 points in the first quarter and had 28 at halftime after a TD with 11 seconds to go in the second quarter. That score led Swinney to rip into his team’s defense before the break.

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Swinney made it clear in his postgame news conference that Clemson had plenty of chances to win the game and simply made too many self-inflicted mistakes.

“We did some really dumb stuff that were 1000% on us,” Swinney said. “I don’t want to take anything away from the opponent, but 100% on us just not doing what we’re supposed to do. Just incredibly disappointing.”

Clemson had 560 yards of total offense, but gave up 361 passing yards to Mensah as he threw for four touchdowns. It’s the most passing yards and touchdowns the Tigers have given up all season.

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And that lack of pass defense on Saturday is why the Tigers now need to win three of their final four games just to make a bowl game. Clemson has games against Florida State, Louisville, Furman and South Carolina remaining and hasn’t missed a bowl game since the 2004 season.

That was four years before Swinney took over midway through the 2008 season. And the Tigers have only had one losing season in his entire time with the program. So far.